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VOLUNTEER SERVICE IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



REMARKS 



OF 



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HON. H. C. HANSBROUGH, 



OJF iVORTPi dj^k:ox>=s., 



IN THE 



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SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



IVIAY 4, 1900 







4404 



WASHITSTGXOM. 

1900. 



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REMARKS 

OF 

HON. H. C. HANSBllOUGII 



During the consideration of the military appropriation bill, Senator Pet- 
TTGREW having read numerous letters from the members of the South 
Dakota volunteer regiment complaining of the policy of the Administration 
in the conduct of the war— 

Senator HANSBROUGH said: 

Mr. President: In view of what has been said here to-day and 
on yesterday in regard to the service and experience of the South 
Dakota regiment, I think it is due that I should make some refer- 
ence to the service and experience of the regiment that went from 
North Dakota. 

I assume, Mr. President, that the two regiments were made up 
of about the same kind of material, the same class of people. 
The men who composed the North Dakota regiment came from 
the shops and the stores and the farms. I had the honor to be on 
a committee that went from my State to San Francisco to meet 
the North Dakota regiment when it returned from Manila, and I 
remained there for two weeks, assisting in any way that I could 
to arrange for their transportation home. I talked with a great 
many members of that regiment, and it was the unanimous testi- 
mony that the hardships which they encountered were not unex- 
pected, I do not recall hearing a single complaint from any of 
them in regard to their treatment, nor did I hear of any regret 
from any of them over the fact that they had gone to the Philip- 
pines in the service of iheir Government. 

The service of the North Dakota regiment was equally remark- 
able with the service of the South Dakota regiment. I remember 
hearing the colonel of our regiment relate an incident of that 
service which it seems to me is very creditable. When Captain 
Young, 1 think it was, from the State of Utah, applied to General 
Lawton for the privilege of organizing a company of scouts, he 
requested that he be permitted to select his men from the North 
Dakota regiment. General Lawton replied to him that that would 
not do. as it might cause some jealousy among the members of other 

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,[?,f,?,R'^.RY OF CONGRESS 




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regiments. The scouts were organized, however, and 18 out of 
the 25 in the organization were North Dakotans. I do not refer 
to this by way of disparagement with respect to any other regi- 
ment in the Philippines. I understand and believe they all served 
with distinction and bravery. 

The State of North Dakota paid the expenses of transportation 
for our troops from San Francisco home. The citizens put their 
hands into their pockets and raised some $20,000 for that purpose; 
and, as I have said, Mr. President. I have never heard from the 
iQouth of any member of the North Dakota regiment a single com- 
plaint or a single regret that they were in Philippine service. 

The discussion of political questions was not allowed, was not 
tolerated, in the camp, as I am advised. At San Francisco, when 
our committee, consisting of the two Senators, the Member of 
the House of Representatives, and several State officers, arrived 
there, we observed that some of the troops showed no little feel- 
ing over the fact, indicating that they were not pleased with the 
presence there of men who were engaged in politics, or that we 
should have gone there to meet them, and thus subject them to 
the suspicion that political influences were at work. There was no 
politics in the regiment. So much for the patriotic spirit of those 
volunteers. 

Mr. President, the North Dakota regiment was composed of 
Democrats and Populists as well as Republicans. On their return 
home I was at several receptions which were given to those troops; 
and I recall that one of the majors of the regiment made a speech 
at one of the receptions. He was a Democrat. In the speech that 
he made at this meeting he indorsed the action of the Administra- 
tion with respect to the conduct of the war, and said that even 
if he had the work to do over again he would be found in the 
ranks on his way to the Philippines as before. 

Mr. President, I think it is due that I should make this state- 
ment in behalf of the regiment from North Dakota by way of 
contrast with what has been said here in regard to the South Da- 
kota volunteers, because I have yet to hear of a single complaint 
against the Government or against the treatment of our North 
Dakota volunteers while they were in the Philippines in the serv- 
ice of their country. 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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